A landmark company in San Francisco has turned off its taps. Anchor Brewing Co. officials announced early Wednesday that it will cease operations and liquidate the business.
That’s too bad. But to be honest their beers just weren’t good enough. Sales come from having a good product and/or big brand recognition, and they had neither going for them. Hope someone can take over and improve their brews, because the history is pretty special.
Just overall I find their beers a bit underwhelming compared to other local breweries. Even forgoing some of the amazing craft breweries around here (Laughing Monk!), I’d typically choose a Trumer over Anchor Steam, or some other local beer.
You might just not like the style. I believe they ferment at a higher temperature which gives it that funkier taste. I had a trumer for the first time on the 4th. Was pretty pretty good
But to be honest their beers just weren’t good enough
That’s a bit much, don’t you think? Just because you don’t prefer them, did not mean they “weren’t good enough.” Beer (and drinks/food in general) are highly subjective, there’s no such thing as a definitive “good” beer, and thus their success is really controlled by marketing and business more than anything. That’s why gimmicks constantly come and go (remember kveik yeast?) and brewers race to see how much they can hop their IPAs. Anchor Steam hasn’t had a hold of their business side for a while, even after their acquisition, so they’re closing, there’s nothing more to it.
People put a lot of good work into Anchor, and their offerings were more unique than the dime-a-dozen breweries that are everywhere. Really frustrating to see you come here and not respect other people’s hard work and craft just because it wasn’t to your taste.
Yeah FFS this dude is just putting on the hindsight glasses and talking about his taste in beer like it’s a business reality everyone must adapt to lol
Marketing, competition, alcohol consumption going down per capita… your view that their product just sucks is simplistic, and, given their long life as a brewery, I would say demonstrably wrong. It’s easy to say, the day after they fold, “their beer obviously sucked.” But the question then is how did they remain in business from 1896-2023? Most brewers are far from demonstrating that kind of success.
Yeah, fair enough any business running for over a 100 years has done something right. However, the amount of (craft) beer competition in the last century just wasn’t even close to the level it is today. In 1978 there were only 89 breweries nationwide. There’s more than that in the Bay alone now. Considering how many really great local breweries and beers are now available, yeah I don’t think their products were good enough to stand out. Then again this is a problem a lot of breweries are having, they are not unique. I never said their beer sucked btw.
Craft beer isn’t new though. It’s been booming for decades. We could say that they didn’t ride the IPA wave and maybe that marketing failure was just enough to sink them. Their distribution was also lousy. I never saw their taps out of state. After visiting them, my sense was that they were just a small-minded, small-scale business. And small businesses have a harder time surviving the ups and downs of the marketplace. They made a bad deal with Sapporo. They went under. None of this besmirches their core product, which is a classic and loved by millions.
Craft beer isn’t new, but it has been building up to this point, especially in the last decade. The number of US breweries has quadrupled in this period and the past couple of years I’ve easily had many of the best and most interesting beers I’ve ever had in my life, often from local Bay Area breweries. That’s all very new, and the “classic” couldn’t compete when there’s better, or let’s say at least more interesting choices available. A more likely story for declining sales than “distribution and marketing issues” for a brand which is far more well-known than almost any other SFBA beer with the backing of a global megabrewer.
There’s too many IPAs though on that we can agree.
Well I just saw the other comment with the vinepair article, and while I think competition from the explosion of craft beers is a part of it, the stories of mismanagement hurt to read :(
I’ve tried a great many beers, from most breweries in the Bay Area, and in my opinion, alright, Anchor was one of those dime-a-dozen ones. They followed the trends like everyone else but never made anything stand out beside their California common. Just look at their current uninspiring lineup. I don’t disrespect the people putting in the work to make the beer, but whoever made the decisions in the business failed badly at product development.
That’s too bad. But to be honest their beers just weren’t good enough. Sales come from having a good product and/or big brand recognition, and they had neither going for them. Hope someone can take over and improve their brews, because the history is pretty special.
Are you saying their style of beer or their beer in general? I feel like it definitely is an acquired taste but a California common is their schtick
Just overall I find their beers a bit underwhelming compared to other local breweries. Even forgoing some of the amazing craft breweries around here (Laughing Monk!), I’d typically choose a Trumer over Anchor Steam, or some other local beer.
You might just not like the style. I believe they ferment at a higher temperature which gives it that funkier taste. I had a trumer for the first time on the 4th. Was pretty pretty good
Steam beer is fermented at higher temperatures, and Anchor Steam used open fermentation, which apparently costs more.
That’s a bit much, don’t you think? Just because you don’t prefer them, did not mean they “weren’t good enough.” Beer (and drinks/food in general) are highly subjective, there’s no such thing as a definitive “good” beer, and thus their success is really controlled by marketing and business more than anything. That’s why gimmicks constantly come and go (remember kveik yeast?) and brewers race to see how much they can hop their IPAs. Anchor Steam hasn’t had a hold of their business side for a while, even after their acquisition, so they’re closing, there’s nothing more to it.
People put a lot of good work into Anchor, and their offerings were more unique than the dime-a-dozen breweries that are everywhere. Really frustrating to see you come here and not respect other people’s hard work and craft just because it wasn’t to your taste.
Yeah FFS this dude is just putting on the hindsight glasses and talking about his taste in beer like it’s a business reality everyone must adapt to lol
With sales steadily declining since 2016 it’s clearly not just my taste in beer. Maybe they should’ve adapted…
Marketing, competition, alcohol consumption going down per capita… your view that their product just sucks is simplistic, and, given their long life as a brewery, I would say demonstrably wrong. It’s easy to say, the day after they fold, “their beer obviously sucked.” But the question then is how did they remain in business from 1896-2023? Most brewers are far from demonstrating that kind of success.
Yeah, fair enough any business running for over a 100 years has done something right. However, the amount of (craft) beer competition in the last century just wasn’t even close to the level it is today. In 1978 there were only 89 breweries nationwide. There’s more than that in the Bay alone now. Considering how many really great local breweries and beers are now available, yeah I don’t think their products were good enough to stand out. Then again this is a problem a lot of breweries are having, they are not unique. I never said their beer sucked btw.
Craft beer isn’t new though. It’s been booming for decades. We could say that they didn’t ride the IPA wave and maybe that marketing failure was just enough to sink them. Their distribution was also lousy. I never saw their taps out of state. After visiting them, my sense was that they were just a small-minded, small-scale business. And small businesses have a harder time surviving the ups and downs of the marketplace. They made a bad deal with Sapporo. They went under. None of this besmirches their core product, which is a classic and loved by millions.
Craft beer isn’t new, but it has been building up to this point, especially in the last decade. The number of US breweries has quadrupled in this period and the past couple of years I’ve easily had many of the best and most interesting beers I’ve ever had in my life, often from local Bay Area breweries. That’s all very new, and the “classic” couldn’t compete when there’s better, or let’s say at least more interesting choices available. A more likely story for declining sales than “distribution and marketing issues” for a brand which is far more well-known than almost any other SFBA beer with the backing of a global megabrewer.
There’s too many IPAs though on that we can agree.
Well I just saw the other comment with the vinepair article, and while I think competition from the explosion of craft beers is a part of it, the stories of mismanagement hurt to read :(
I’ve tried a great many beers, from most breweries in the Bay Area, and in my opinion, alright, Anchor was one of those dime-a-dozen ones. They followed the trends like everyone else but never made anything stand out beside their California common. Just look at their current uninspiring lineup. I don’t disrespect the people putting in the work to make the beer, but whoever made the decisions in the business failed badly at product development.